Super Mario: Rise of the Sky Warrior
by mookeybrain
Summary: The Mushroom Kingdom is in danger. Peach and the others have been trapped within the walls of the castle, and only one can save them - the legendary Sky Warrior. Will he and his many friends that he will make along the way be able to stop the Enemy, or will they be unable to rescue the people of the Kingdom? (Based off of Super Mario 64) PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"The time has come."

"But sir, he's not ready yet!"

"I know, Neil, but we have no other choice. The Mushroom Kingdom is in peril. If we wait any longer, it will be too late. Not only that, but there is no one left that can take on the Enemy."

I realize that, Raiun," said the worried Neil, "but I'm telling you, he's not prepared for _any_ fight!"

"I know, but he seems to have potential. I feel that he will be able to pull on through," said Raiun as he looked into the distance in the fast land of clouds, spotting someone happily flying through the rainbow-filled sky.

This special someone darting in the air, the one in which Raiun and Neil were talking about, was dressed in red, and wore a hat that had small feathery wings coming out of it, giving him the ability to fly. His arms were spread out wide as he closed his eyes and let himself feel the loveliness of the wind.

"He seems so calm and content…" said Neil, somewhat depressed. "Do you feel any guilt from the fact that you are sending him into such an unfamiliar world at a time like this? I would if I were making this decision…"

"I am the leader of the Sky Kingdom. I have trained myself not to feel guilt. I am, however, confident in the fact that he will save the people from certain disaster," said Raiun with a serious, but gentle smile on his face.

Raiun extended his right arm straight forward, spreading his hand out wide. Then, with great swiftness, he jerked his arm to the right. Suddenly, the wings on the red-clad man's hat faded away, stopping him in his tracks.

"Hm?!" he exclaimed in great confusion. Then, just as he realized that he could no longer fly, he plummeted down to the great world below him.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Good luck, Mario…"

* * *

_Just saying, Enemy was capitalized for a reason. This is a reference to the one in which Mario has to fight._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Just saying, for now on this story will be in Mario's perspective unless indicated by myself._

* * *

I rocketed straight down to a sea of green, unsure of what was going on. The wind no longer welcomed me, and instead shoved me very angrily, as if it was trying to keep me from crashing. I closed my eyes as tightly as possible, and fear completely took over me as I was still screaming. After about a minute or two, I immediately dropped right into a small lake, completely unharmed. I slowly drifted to the surface, and confusedly looked around in a slight panic.

"I – I'm still alive?!" I said as I still jerked my head around. "Phew! That was a close one!" I exclaimed in relief. "But, where am I? And what is this strange blue thing I'm in?" I asked myself (for I have never seen water in my entire life.) I splashed my way out, and stared down at the yellowish dirt road before me. I decided to follow it, and paid no attention to the fact that there was a gigantic castle before me. The path lead me straight to the white brick bridge that connects to the castle, which is when I decided to look up and see what was before me.

"Whoa… what is this?" I asked as I looked straight up at the beautiful castle. The castle was as white as snow, and had a pinkish red roof with four towers at each corner in addition to a large tower in the center of the front. This tower had a stained glass picture of a girl with a pink dress and a golden crown with blue and red jewels on it. I slowly walked over to a large set of brown doors with golden doorknobs. I, once again, confusedly stared at them as I cocked my head to the side (for there are no doors or buildings in the Sky Kingdom, only fluffy clouds in the open air.) It took me about five minutes to figure out how this contraption worked, and I slowly pushed the somewhat weighty door. Inside, it had a white and grey checkered floor. The walls had a nature-like pattern with green grass and puffy clouds all over a blue sky. A red carpet ran not only in the area in which I was standing, but also up a flight of stairs that ran on the middle of the back wall. At the top of those stairs, there was a large set of doors similar to the ones outside. To the upper left was a large set of brown doors with a giant star on it. To the right was a small brown door with a small star on the upper half of it. In fact, these doors were everywhere. Finally, there were two regular wooden doors on either side of the stairs.

There was also a strange symbol in the center of the floor. It looked like a sun – a yellow/orange circle with red and purple triangles poking out of it. It was contained in a dark blue hexagon that had a thick yellow outline. I slowly walked over to it and looked at it in confusion.

_Why does this seem so familiar? _I thought. _Have I seen this before?_

Very lost, I took my attention off of the strange pattern and looked around to see if anyone could direct me to my destination. I spotted a small boy that wore a blue vest and a hat that looked like a mushroom top, and started to walk over to him.

However, before I opened my mouth, I stopped and remembered what Raiun said to me earlier…

_"You must remain silent. You must be a silent warrior."_

* * *

_I'm going to make a key so you can understand the text better._

"Speech that can be heard by others."

_Mario's thoughts_

_"Speech in Mario's thoughts"_

_Sorry if this chapter was kind of boring, but I needed to be descriptive to get the scenery pictured in the readers' minds (especially if they have never played the game.) Don't worry, though. The story will be moving again by the next chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Before I begin, I want to point out the fact that people were wondering if and when I will continue. YES, I WILL be continuing this for QUITE a while, for there is quite a bit to this story. And yes I WANT to continue. But you have to be patient, for typing this up isn't a quick progress! I just wanted to let you know. Happy reading! :)_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

I slowly wandered around the enormous room, trying out every star door (except for one last one to the left up a very small flight of stairs.) None of them opened for some strange reason. I wanted to figure out why, but I know that I had no time to sit and ponder on the idea. I tried out the last door, and it opened without any problem. However, the only thing in the room was a large portrait of black Bomb-Ombs marching in a line. I felt every cream-colored wall to see if there was a secret entrance somewhere. Sadly, I found nothing. I turned around and looked up at the painting again with a suspicious look on my face. I slowly approached it and touched it to see if there was anything underneath.

"WAH!" I shouted as I saw the painting ripple like water. I stared at it for a while, and then very nervously put my arm into the "painting," realizing that my arm went through.

"Amazing…" I thought. "It seems to be some sort of a portal…" I backed off a little, made a running start, and then jumped straight into the painting.

I landed straight into a meadow. However, I couldn't call it a 'peaceful meadow' because water cannons exploded everywhere. A little pink Bomb-Omb ran right over to me and said, "Oh thank goodness! Somebody has come to save us!" I stared at it, not only confused, but frightened.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I stammered.

"This meadow used to be a nice meadow. But, ever since Big Bomb-Omb took over, the Black Bomb-Ombs have tuned this place into a battlefield! We are the peace-loving Bomb-Oms, so we do not fight, not only to mention that none of us have hands!" the little pink bomb said. "Please help!"

Without even thinking, I just blurted out, "Okay."

_What have I just done…?_

The bomb jumped in happiness, then walked away, shouting, "HE'S ON THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN!" I started off for the mountain, when a little brown creature started to run after me. Out of instinct I swung my and at it and knocked it away.

_How did I even do that…?_

Regaining my senses, something red caught my eye, and I peeked around the corner to find a very familiar block floating in the air.

"I remember these things! I see them back at the Sky Kingdom! I forgot what comes out of them, but I know it's something good!" I said. I jumped and smacked right into the block. It burst open, and a feather popped out of it.

_Is that what I think it is?!_ I dove right in for it, and the most amazing thing happened. Small feathery wings appeared on my hat. I put my hands on my head, and then shouted, "WOOHOO!" I can fly again. I jumped for joy, and then took off for the big brute. I spotted a floating island.

"Maybe this will be a good place to scout out the enemy." I gently landed, only to immediately see a black dot in the distance. The bomb had large white eyes, a huge white mustache, and had very small arms and legs with large hands and feet. He wore a golden crown. _That must be him…_

I jumped up and darted straight for the mountain, and then decided to make my entrance… interesting. I whizzed right past Big Bomb-Omb, startling him to death.

"Wh-WHAT was THAT?!" he hollered. I then attempted to land nicely on the mountain, only to crash land instead.

"Umph!"

The Big Bomb turned around and looked down. The moment he laid his large white eyes on me, he gave a very disturbed face. "H-how is this possible! A Sky Warrior! I thought that they were all wiped out!" he stammered.

I clumsily got up onto my feet and stared at the monster. I was more than determined to defeat him.

"Well, you seem to be a poor excuse for one!" bellowed the king.

"And you're a poor excuse for a king!" I angrily got back at him.

"Oh ho ho! A feisty one you are. Well, for your information, there is no possible way for a wimp like you to harm me! However, you most likely will not listen to me, so let the battle begin!" he declared.

I immediately ran after him. As I was readying myself to attack, he grabbed me and flung me to the other side of the field.

"Ho ho! What did I tell you! Ready to give up yet?" he teased.

"No way!" I hollered, determined to destroy him.

I ran after him, and right before he grabbed me, I darted behind him and have him a good whack.

Nothing.

"You see, hitting and punching will do no good!" he laughed. "You must pick me up and throw me! But there is no way for a wimp like you to do that!"

_He's right… There is no way I can lift up something that heavy!_

That's when I had only one option left, run around in circles and get King Brute to fall over himself. I darted to the left, then to the right, and tried my hardest to confuse him. I ended up succeeding. However, the falling over part didn't quite work out as expected.

"Where did the little twerp go?" he said, very baffled.

I was running out of breath very quickly. _ Have no choice. I have to at least try._

I snuck up behind him when he wasn't paying attention, and made my attempt to lift him up. Surprisingly, I very slowly started to lift him up.

"Wh-WHA?! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! YOU LOOK LIKE SUCH A WEAKLING! HOW?!" he yelled.

I slowly walked over to the edge of the mountain, and prepared myself to throw him.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" he asked in a panic.

I tossed him right over the mountain, and he bounced far away.

"Oh, yes! Ha ha! Who's the wimp now?" I teased while doing a little victory dance. All of a sudden, I heard a ground shaking thump. I gulped as I nervously turned around to see the very angry Big Bomb-Omb stare at me.

"What are you doing? It is against the rules to throw the king out of the ring! Fight with honor!" he scolded.

"You never told me tha-" I complained as he picked me up and tossed me, making me fall off of the top of the mountain by only a little bit. _Oh so HE gets to throw me out, I can't throw HIM out. That's so unfair!_

I ran straight for the bomb, and immediately picked him up and flung him down. He immediately got up. I started to run behind him, but he followed me wherever I went. _Great what do I do now? _

I froze as the king charged at me. That's when I thought of something. A determined look swept my face as I made my move. I summersaulted over his head, leaving him jumbled. I picked him up and threw him down. He attempted to follow me again, but I just repeated myself and chucked him right onto the ground again. He trembled in defeat as he said, "H-how is this possible?! A puny little wimp like you couldn't possibly do such a thing! Ugh, oh well. Here's the star that I had taken…"

He magically faded away, and left behind was a bright yellow star. I slowly walked over to it, and stared at the shining star in confusion. _How come I see these in the sky as well? I didn't know that they were on land… Wait… Oh, I remember now!_

_"You must collect the shining stars to free the people…"_

As my wings, faded away from my hat, I slowly walked over to the star and jumped for it.

"All right! HA HA!" I cheered is I magically warped out of the painting.

* * *

_(Note: This small section will no longer be in Mario's perspective.)_

"Sire…" said the nervous Big Bomb-Omb out of breath. "A Sky Warrior has arrived…"

"WHAT?!" screamed a very deep, growly voice (all the bomb could see of it was glowing red eyes.) "How is this possible!? I thought my troops wiped out every last one of them! Explain yourself! How do you know if this person is even one?! HM?" he interrogated in a rage.

"W-well…." Big Bomb-Omb started, "He could actually pick me up and-"

"SO?! ANY STRONG PERSON COULD DO THAT!" the angry being hollered.

"Well… um… he didn't look all that strong at all…"

"YAWN!"

"And… um… he had small feathery wings coming out of his cap…"

"WHAAAAAAAAT! YOU LIAR!" he screamed, now in a VERY dangerous raging fit.

"I-it's true Sire!"

"Destroy him!" he declared. "We cannot have any more meddling Sky Warriors messing with us… DESTROY HIM!"

* * *

_(Note: the next chapter will be back to Mario's perspective unless indicated by myself)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

I jumped straight out of the painting, wondering, _What in the world just happened? _I stared at the mysterious portal, shrugged and walked out of the almost completely barren room. I walked towards the front door, and noticed that the mushroom boy was soundly sleeping. I peeked out of the door to realize that it was already night time. "Strange… It's amazing how fast time goes by."

I was planning on going outside to sleep, but I realized that it was strangely chilly out. So, I decided to sleep inside instead._ Now where exactly should I go? All of the doors are locked… and I don't want to go into the Bomb-Omb room… Hmmm… _I looked down at the strange symbol on the floor once again. _That has to be there for a reason… maybe I should sleep there and see if anything happens…_

I sat down right in the middle of the circle. _Well, not the most comfortable spot, but it's better than… freezing… out…side… zzzzz…_

(Later that night…) "_Mario…" "Hm?" "Mario…" "What is going on…?" "Mario… your next destination… is at… the Whomp's Fortress… Mario… the star door… to the right… but not up… the stairs… Mario…"_

"WAH!" I screamed as I woke up with a start. The mushroom boy was already awake, and was startled by my sudden yell. I looked outside to see that it was already morning.

_Whomp's Fortress? _I walked over to the star door to the right. _But it's locked… _I turned the knob.

It opened without any problems…

* * *

_Sorry that this chapter was so short, but if I added more to it, it would take the attention off of an important scene!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I walked down the very short flight of stairs, and then took the left ramp (there was also a right one, but it really didn't make a difference.) Before me was a large painting of a fort-like castle. "This must be it."

I made a running start for the painting, and jumped straight into it.

I landed in a field very close to the castle. I spotted a dangerous looking plant (Piranha Plant) and started to run after it, ready to attack. However, it seemed to sleeping. Right in front of it was a sign that read, "I'm sleeping because… I'm sleepy. I don't like being disturbed. Please walk quietly." I abandoned my attempt to attack, and very carefully tiptoed away from it and started to climb the fort.

I started to run across, only to be nearly shoved off by the wall. Apparently, the wall had certain areas that automatically try to push off any invaders. I successfully jumped, over all of them and continued my trek to the top of the mountain. The brown floor below me began to move backwards, and, once again, I began to jump and run like crazy. Thankfully, I never fell off into the nothingness below me. "Phew!"

A large stairway made entirely of stone was right before me as I was on the ground, trying to regain myself. After a few seconds, I went to, quite literally, climb them. Right before I got onto the first step, I heard I noise above me, and looked up to see a gigantic rock with a nasty looking face drop down. "WAAH!" I screamed as I dove away from the beast. I quickly jumped up the stairs (dodging yet another Thwomp,) and looked up to see that I was almost to the top. I proceeded to cross a narrow bridge, when I accidentally woke up a Piranha Plant. It started to furiously bite at me.

"YAAAIII!" I yelled as I ran away as fast as I could. As soon as I left, it immediately fell asleep. I crossed the bridge, and then walked on to yet another bridge. I heard it tremble below me. _Great. Is it going to break?! _"WAAAAAAHHHHhh wha?" I said as the bridge began to rotate. That was when I finally realized that the bridge only went halfway, and seemed to be circular at the end in which it pivoted on. It took me to the other side of the gap, and I quickly got off of it, worried that it would move again.

_This has been way too much… maybe I should sit for a minute or two…_

I plopped onto the ground, attracting the attention of a very angry looking stone slab. The Whomp ran over, and attempted to flatten me. However, I was able to get up fast enough to move out of its way, so it humorously face planted onto the ground. I ran over and jumped on it, only for it to take a tiny bit of damage. I dashed away from it, and yet again dodged another piece of walking concrete.

I jumped onto the elevator platforms, declaring, "I hope I never see another one of those creeps again!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CREEP!" boomed a deep, angry voice.

Very scared, I closed my eyes as I jumped off of the platform. I nervously turned around, slowly opened my eyes, and froze as I was a gargantuan Whomp with a crown on its head.

"HOW DARE YOU! THAT'S IT! I…I…"

"What?" I asked.

"YOU… YOU ARE THAT SKY WARRIOR THAT I WAS WARNED OF!"

"What do you mean? Nobody knows that I am a Sky Warrior except for that Big Bomb-Omb!"

"WELL, FIRST OFF, YOU JUST ADMITTED THAT YOU ARE ONE. AND SECOND OFF, I WAS INFORMED BY THAT VERY BOMB THAT YOU WERE AFTER US!"

_Wait, what? How? _I then remembered how I made my entrance when I was fighting the bomb.

_Oops…_

"NOW I'M REALLY ANGRY! PREPARE YOURSELF, MARIO! THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CRUSH MEEEEE!"

He charged at me and attempted to flatten me like a pancake. I immediately got out of his way and jumped on him. Nothing happened at all. "Come on!" I angrily exclaimed as I kept on stomping on him. "Break already!" He got up and slid me off, throwing my off of the edge. To break my fall, I ground pounded and landed on something weird. "AND IF YOU'RE SMART, YOU WON'T COME BACK!" he bellowed.

"Nnnggh… I'll show you! But what should I do?" I looked around and saw that I actually hit and destroyed a Whomp.

_That's it!_ I ran and jumped for the elevator. I jumped onto the fortress on challenged the king once again. "A VERY UNWISE DECISION, MY FRIEND… HEH HEH HEH…"

He jumped and once again attempted to flatten me, but I dodged the attack, jumped onto it, and ground pounded it, damaging it. "UMF! HOW! HM, YOU ARE STRONGER THAT I THOUGHT… BRING IT ON, SKY WARRIOR!" he challenged. Once again, he face planted onto the ground. I once again slammed onto him. "RAAAGH! I AM SO SICK OF THIS. PREPARE TO EAT DEFEAT!" he hollered.

He dove in towards me, but my agility beat his brute strength. I slammed onto him once more, and this time, he could not get up. "NO! YOU ARE KIDDING ME!" he yelled. "I GUESS THAT I'M JUST A STEPPING STON AFTER ALL, JUST LIKE YOU SAID." _I never said that._ "I HAVE NO CHOICE, FOR RULES ARE RULES. TAKE THIS STAR…" He exploded, leaving behind yet another bright, shining star. I ran up and grabbed it, and struck yet another victory pose. "Here we GO!"

I warped out of the fortress and landed back at the castle. I went to the door, and just as I opened it, the little mushroom boy was right in front of me.

"OH BOY!" he yelled.

"WHA! Geez, you startled me!"

"Oh, sorry, Mister. I didn't mean to startle you. I'm just glad that you are doing well! You know, with this whole star collecting thing and all. It seems really hard! But, being a Sky Warrior, it mustn't be that hard! Am I talking too much? I'm sorry. I do that a lot. Now it's your turn. What's your name?" he said very quickly.

"I'm Mario. Who are you?"

"My name is Toad! And I'm not the only Toad here, too! There are a few of us around the castle, so don't be afraid to say hi! Anyway, I need to get back to my post, so bye bye!" he said as he darted off for the corner that he usually stands at.

_Whoa, that was a lot to comprehend. Oh well, at least I know who he is now._

* * *

(This section will not be in Mario's perspective until I say)

"ANOTHER ONE DEFEATED?!" said the furious growly voice in another dimension. "THIS IS UNEXCEPTABLE! I WIILL GET MY REVENGE ON HIM! THEN, NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP ME! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

(Back to Mario's perspective)

_(Later that night…) _

I was sitting on the stone bridge outside the castle, looking at the stars in the night sky.

_Wow, this is the most beautiful thing in the world… It reminds me of home…_

I stared into the sea of dark blue and white, and never took my eyes off of it for hours. Then, I saw a star whiz across the night sky.

"Oh! A shooting star!" _I guess that means I have to make a wish._

I never knew that very soon, my wish would come true…


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

(This entire chapter will not be in Mario's perspective, but the next chapter will be.)

* * *

Deep within the castle, there is a strange room that keeps an interesting secret…

If one would go through the large door at the top of the stairs in the main room, there is yet another flight of stairs that twists upward. At the top of those stairs there is a door in which one would need to enter. There, one would need to take a right to find a brown brick wall with a small star door. Enter the door, and it would bring one to the strange room. It starts with a small set of stairs in which one would need to walk up. The floor has the same checkered pattern, and there is a red carpet running left to right throughout the large, long room. Pedestals are placed here and there, and paintings are placed everywhere on each wall (except for one wall, which was completely barren.) However, only three sides are actually walls. The side in which one would see when they would first enter is actually a gigantic mirror.

Now, what is this mirror for, exactly? Is it only for looking into? No. In fact, this mirror contains the secret that the castle holds. Now, how is this possible? There is no way to go into a mirror! Or is there…

If one had the ability to walk through walls, they would realize that there is an entirely new world in there. The room seems to be the same in there, and in fact, it is. But if one were to go through the door in the mirror, they would discover the secret that nobody, not even Peach, knows about.

The room that the door leads to is nothing but an extremely small room that is completely white. In there, is somebody sleeping. He wears similar clothing to Mario, but wears green instead of red, (not to mention that he has no wings on his hat.)

Nobody knows exactly how long he has been in there, but legend has it that he has never woken up.

At least, not until tonight, of course…

* * *

_Yes, I know, this chapter was kind of strange, but that's how it's supposed to be!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Hm?" It was still the middle of the night. I had fallen asleep outside. No strange dreams yet…

_Is it necessary to sleep in that exact same spot? Hmm… I feel a strange presence… Maybe it would be a good idea to go there… I don't know why, but it seems to be smart. It helped my find out where to go last time, maybe it will tell me this time!_

I quietly opened the door and tiptoed in, minding the fact that Toad was sleeping. I laid down on the strange symbol and almost immediately fell asleep.

_"Mario…" Great, here it comes… "Mario, no enemies… are ready yet…" "Hm?" "Instead… someone needs… rescuing…" "Rescuing?" "Yes… but he is not in a painting…" "Hm?" "Instead… he is… deep… within… the castle… Go to the top stairway and use the… large door… In the large… room… there is a… brown…wall… Go into that…door…and there… should…be…a…" _

_"A what?" _I asked._ "There should be a what?!" "…" "ANSWER MEEEEEE!"_

"WHA!" I yelled as I woke up with a start. Toad was once again startled.

"A-are you okay Mario? You screamed! Did you have a nightmare?" he asked energetically.

"No, it wasn't a nightmare, Toad," I assured as I headed off for my destination.

I rushed toward the door. Once I was at the brick wall, I took precautions as I approached the door. _You never know if there is a monster in there, Mario, _I thought to myself. I nervously grabbed at the doorknob and, shaking, I opened the door and a darted inside. "COME AND GET SOME YA- huh? There's no one in here!" I looked around, only noticing the fact that there was a huge mirror. "Hello? Is anybody here?" I worriedly asked. I then caught something move in the corner of my eye, and I quickly jerked to the area in which I saw the movement. "What was that…? Show yourself!" I said, now completely freaked out. I looked around the room, and saw no signs of anything anywhere in the room.

"Strange… I thought for sure that I saw… Wait… What was that?" I came up close to the mirror, and saw something move. _Wait… there's something… IN the mirror? How is this possible? _I came even closer, and I, no doubt about it, saw someone dart behind a pedestal. "Hey, don't be shy!" I assured. "I won't hurt you! Please come out!"

He poked his head out of behind the pedestal, only to duck behind it again. Then, he slowly walked out of behind it, and slowly started to walk over to me, looking very nervous.

"How did you get in there?" I asked. He just stared at me. "Don't worry! I'll get you out!" I started to punch and kick the mirror, sending the mysterious person into a panic. He started to shake his head furiously.

"What is it? I'm trying to get you out of here!" I argued as he continued to shake his head in disapproval. That's when I finally caught on. "Wait, so if I break this mirror, will you be unable to escape?" He nodded. I gave a very depressed look, not knowing how to get him out of there. He reached out and put his hand on the mirror, very frightened. I followed in suit.

Suddenly, the mirror started to waver, and I shoved my arm into the mirror (somewhat like the paintings.) "Grab my hand!" I told him. He did exactly what I said, and I yanked him out of the mirror as both of us fell onto the floor. "A-are you okay?" I asked, very worried.

"Y-yea… I'm o-okay!" he said, shocked from what happened.

"Man, that must have been scary!" I said.

"Y-yes. I-it w-was… Wh-what's y-your name?" he suddenly asked.

"I'm Mario. Who might you be?"

"L-Luigi," he replied.


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry if this took longer to come out than usual. I had difficulty thinking up what to write next. This will mostly be a filler. Sorry…_

* * *

Chapter 8

"So, how in the world did you even get in that mirror anyway?" I asked the timid newcomer as we strolled outside.

"Hm?!" he exclaimed, his face red the moment I finished. "Oh, um… it's a long story… A long and… painful story…"

"What do you mean by… _painful_?" I asked, very confused and worried.

"It's nothing, really. Just an attempt to help others that didn't work… honest!"

"I believe you. If you don't want to say anything, then I won't force you!"

"R-really?"

"Yup!"

"Oh…"

_Hmm… can the reason he ended up in our world be THAT horrible? Was it the result of an act of kindness that went unnoticed? Or maybe an act of heroism? Or maybe an act of cowardice… He does seem to be a timid one… Wait, I shouldn't even be thinking that! Oh, well. I may find out eventually…_

"Well don't you worry," I said to him as the sun set over the hills. "Nothing bad is going to happen here…" _If only that were true…_

"If you say so," he said. "So, what might you be doing here? Do you live here? I mean, I wouldn't know what people who live here look like, for I'm not from this world, you know… Wait. I- I shouldn't have said that!"

"Wait a minute. You aren't from this word?" I asked, full of curiosity.

"Uhhh…"

"Oh! Don't worry! Neither am I! Well, technically I am not from this land. I actually live in the sky."

"Oh, so…"

"There's no need to by shy!"

"Um… if you tell about your land first, I may feel more confident…"

_Confident in what? Is there something wrong with his homeland?!_

"No problem!" I agreed.

"You see, I am what is called a Sky Warrior, an-"

"Sky Warrior?! Really?! I learned about you guys in school when I was younger! However, you were only in fairy-tails and legends. They said that you were mythical heroes from the Real World, that being this world. No need to say any more, my friend, for I know what you are, now!" he cheerfully said.

"Okay, since you know so much, there is no need to introduce myself, then. Where do you come from? Not just anybody can go into a mirror like that!"

"W-wait! You didn't tell me why you're here!" he uneasily said. _Oh, excuses, excuses! Well, he needs to know, so I guess I'll let him have a break._

"Okay, the reason that I'm here is because I need to free the people of this castle. I need to defeat the Enemy, and restore the power of the stars to the castle."

"Okay."

"So, might I ask how you ended up in that mirror?" He immediately froze.

"Oh come on! It can't be that bad! You don't need to tell me _everything!_"

"Oh! Okay!" he said as he suddenly perked up. "I come from the Mirror World. That explains why I was able to go into the mirror. And that's all I can say! Okay?!" he said in a very rushed, angry, and somewhat sketchy tone.

"Okaay?" I said, trying to figure out why he couldn't say anymore. _Is that world really that bad?_

_(That evening...)_

"Hey, Mario. I never thought that I would wake up and be able to see the stars again…"

"What do you mean? You were asleep?"

"Yup…" he gloomily said.

"Hmm…"

He seemed to be amazed as he gazed into the night sky, as if he hasn't seen it at all in his entire life.

"Hey, you want to hear something interesting?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Last night, I saw a shooting star."

"M-hm."

"I made a wish upon that star. You see, I have been lonely lately. The Toad in the castle is really nice, but he is very energetic, and is a big chatterbox. I'm surprised that he never runs out of breath! Anyway, I had wished that I could have someone by my side. Someone who would trust me and I could trust. Someone who would never leave my side. Isn't it weird that you woke up on that same night?"

"Yeah… it is… Anyway, who did you find?" he asked, obviously not catching on.

"You."

* * *

_I want your feedback on this story (and any of my stories.) If you are a member, and even if you are not one and are a guest, please review! It would be much appreciated! THANK YOU! _:)


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_"Mario…" Great. Not again… "Mario… listen to…me… You must… go… to the… Lethal Lava Land… Go deep into the… castle… dungeons… there is a… painting of… fire… You must go… in… there… and defeat… the…Big Bully…" "Hey, how come you sound so familiar? I can't remember whose voice you have, but it's someone I know… Do I know you?" "…" "Hello?" "…" "Anybody here?" "…" "PLEASE!"_

"WAH!" I yelled.

"YIKES!" Luigi yelled, very startled.

"Don't worry," Toad started, "he always wakes up like that. It's as if he has a nightmare every night. How can he stand that? Is that even possible? There must be something wrong with hi-"

"TOAD, WILL YOU JUST…" I started.

"Sorry, Mario…" the now saddened Toad apologized.

"No… it's… fine…" I said, ashamed of what I was starting to say. Luigi just stared at me in great confusion, not sure of what was going on.

I nervously looked at the two, not sure of why this was even happening.

"Come on Luigi," I said flatly. "We're going to the Lethal Lava Land."

"That sounds kinda dangerous. But, you're the Sky Warrior here. You know what you're a-doin'!" Luigi said.

_Actually, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm only doing what my dreams tell me to do…_

"All right, Luigi. Let's-a go," I said still in that dull tone. Luigi followed with no problem.

We entered the wooden door to the right, and started to head down the stairs that leads to the large wooden door. I didn't notice, but Luigi froze as he saw a laughing Boo fly away in the other direction. He noticed that I was at the bottom of the staircase, and scurried over to catch up with me, bumping into me.

"Oh! Easy there, Luigi!" I said, completely unaware of what happened.

We walked into the small room that lead to the dungeons, and walked down a small hall. There, we entered the so-called dungeon.

_Why is it full of that blue stuff? _I wondered as I stared into the small flood of the… um… what's it called again?

"Hey Luigi, what is this that we're walking in?"

"The floor?" he told me in a tone that suggested that he couldn't believe that I didn't know what a floor was.

"No! Not that! I know what a floor is! The bluish stuff!"

"Oh, you mean the water?"

"Oh, so _that's _what it is…"

"You don't know what water is?"

"I've never seen it in my life. There is none in the Sky Kingdom, only clouds, rainbows, and the fresh air," I explained.

"Oh," he said rather flatly.

We walked through the somewhat maze-like room, when I spotted a painting of fire that seemed to have a creepy looking face. It was above a checkered floor.

"Okey dokey. I guess this is it. It matches the description that I was told of. Let's a-go!"

"Oka- Wait… who told you to come here?"

"Huh?! Oh, that's nothing that you need to know!"

"Okaaaay?"

With that said and done, we jumped into the painting without any hesitation. We then landed straight into a land that had a sea of lava.

"Mama mia!" Luigi exclaimed. "This is a-ridiculous! We're getting out of here right now!"

"We can't until we collect the star," I said.

"Ohhhhh…"

We walked down the grey stone pathway, and headed over to seek the Big Bully.

We jumped over the gap in the road to avoid burning ourselves, and made a turn to the long, brown bridge leading to another stone platform.

"Alrighty then, I think we should go a-this wa-"

"LOOK OUT MARIO!" Luigi hollered as he shoved away a little black creature away as it charged at me. It had yellow horns on the top of its head, green feet, no hands, and a mean look on its face. It came after me again, and I shoved it straight into the lava, where it disappeared.

"What… WAS that thing?" he asked, still startled from the sudden attack.

"I have no idea," I simply replied.

We started to head over to an extremely short metal gate "bridge," when I had to immediately jerk my arm in front of Luigi in order for him to avoid being burned by a stream of fire coming straight out of the lava.

"Thanks, Mario," he said.

"Well, I think I made it up to you for getting that little creature out of my face, ha ha!"

We both laughed for a second or two, and then continued on our way to find this large creature.

We went straight onto another brown bridge and then hopped onto some a large, square, grey tile with a darker grey diamond in the middle, spanning to the edges of it. It immediately started to wobble the moment we jumped on it.

"Whoa!" we both exclaimed in unison.

"What IS this place?!" Luigi said in fear and confusion.

"The Lethal Lava-" I started.

"I was being sarcastic!" he snapped back at me.

We hopped from tile to tile, and landed on a long grey platform surrounded by even more lava. I looked bekind me to see that there was a small volcano blowing not far from us.

"Mario…"

"What is it, buddy?"

"We're gonna die…"

"What do you mean? We're not a- going to-"

_I stand corrected…_

The lava was closing in on us.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

We both froze in place as the broiling hot lava slowly crept up to us.

_Where are my wings when I need them? _I looked all around to see if it were possible to reach a block that contained a feather. I did end up spotting one behind me, but it was all the way on the other side of the land.

Luigi started to make a squealing whimpering noise as the lava came to be one inch away from our feet.

_Don't tell me that this is how far we're going to make it…_

The lava was now only a few centimeters away from us.

"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!" we both screamed, knowing that we would somehow get burned.

"Um… Luigi…"

"Y-yes Mario?"

"Look."

We both looked down to see that the lava stopped at one centimeter away from our feet. It then started to move away from us.

I gave him an angry glare, causing him to give me an uneasy look.

"What?" he said, as if he didn't know what he did.

"I'll tell you what… THANKS FOR GETTING BOTH OF US WORKED UP OVER NOTHING!"

"I THOUGHT THAY WE WERE GOING TO GET HURT!"

"OH YEAH, WELL I-"

"YYYOOOOOW!" Luigi shrieked as he jumped into the air.

_Oh, geez…_

I caught him before he slammed onto the ground, but ended up falling down. I immediately got up with him and carried him to the solid land not far from the death trap that we were in.

"Luigi! Are you okay?!" I asked him, extremely worried that he might be severely hurt.

"I- I'm fine… agh!" he said as he was holding his foot.

"Phew! Nothing serious here. Still hurts though, huh…"

"Tell me about it! Ha ha!" he laughed as he hopped up with nothing but energy. "I'll be fine, Mario!"

_Oh thank goodness!_

"Okay, then let's-a go!"

"Okey dokey!"

We continued to walk down the M shaped pathway, avoiding the occasional fire ball that hopped across the path like a scurrying rabbit. We then readied ourselves to hop onto four square platforms that were connected to each other, when Luigi spotted a yellowish box with a funny looking face on it: swirled eyes with a scraggly mouth.

"Hey, what's a-this?" he asked as he began to grab at it.

_Wait a second. I remember these things. But where? Wait, I remember! I used to play with these when I was a child! I would grab onto them and it would bounce all over the place from cloud to cloud! They were fun… But… OH NO! THE LAVA! IT MIGHT BOUNCE INTO THE LAVA! WITH LUIGI ON IT!_

"LUIGI! DON'T GRAB THAT THING!"

"What?" he asked. I gave a horrified look as I saw that my warning came too late. He had already grabbed it. I immediately ran after him. The box ricocheted into the air.

"WAAAAAAAHHHH!" he screamed. I jumped right after it and grabbed onto Luigi's legs, and the box now carried the two of us.

"WAAAAAAAHHH!" we shrieked as the box hopped from area to area, surprisingly landing on solid ground every time.

On the final jump, it bounced extremely high, about 20 feet into the air! As we were flying, I spotted a creature that looked like the one that tried to shove me into the lava, but 15 times bigger.

"Hey! It's the Big Bull- AAAAHHHHHH!"

We dove down straight to the platform where the Big Bully was, and crash landed right in front of it.

"RR RRRR!" the black beast cried as it started to charge at us. We were lucky enough to barely dodge its assault. It immediately turned around and charged at us again, and we once again jumped out of the infuriated Bully's way.

"How are we going to push this huge creature out of the ring?" Luigi questioned me in a panic.

"The same way we did with that other Bully!"

"But this one is probably fifty times heavier that the other one!"

"If we time our hits correctly, we should be able to give it enough force to push him out of the ring! All we have to do is a-work together!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!"

"Okay, on the count of three. One…" I started as the Big Bully readied itself to put forth yet another attack.

"Two…" Luigi said as the Bully let out a battle cry.

"THREE!" we both hollered as both of us and the Bully came charging at each other. At the same time we jumped right onto the yellow-horned creature, sending it backwards.

"Again!" I shouted as we both ran and shoved the Bully for a second time.

"Again!"

* * *

_(This part isn't in Mario's perspective)_

_(In the strange dimension…)_

The evil beast with glowing red eyes watched the twosome battle through a strange portal.

"Who _is _that fighting with the Sky Warrior? A new ally, I suppose? Well, waste your time hinging with him, for he will be useless to you eventually… BWA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Um, sir?" a little yellow turtle with a red shell said uneasily, "You realize that the Big Bully is getting beaten, right?"

"That's fine. As long as the Sky Warrior is distracted, I can continue making mischief in the walls! Now SCRAM! Shouldn't you be in the Bomb-Omb Battlefield!?" he sneered.

"O- OH! S-sorry sir! I'll be there right away!" the little turtle said as he scurried away.

"Heh, fool…"

* * *

_(Back to Mario's perspective)_

_(At the Lethal Lava Land…)_

"Mario… this is getting to be- umph! Too much!"

"I know Luigi, but we're almost done! He's near the edge now!"

"Okaaaay."

"Ready… set… GO!" I yelled as we slammed into the Bully for the final time, throwing it off of the edge and into the lava. Then, yet another star came flying out as it landed on another higher platform not far from the fighting grounds. There were brownish-yellow stairs that lead up to it.

"Alright! The star is just waiting for us Mario! Let' a-"

"Hold it, Luigi."

"What now?!"

"I would jump up those stairs quickly. They look like they are going to break under our weight."

"Great. Just what we needed! Faulty stairs!"

"Come on, Luigi. And quickly!"

He and I started to swiftly jump up the stairs as, just as I had thought, the stairs crumbled beneath us. As we reached the top, I had to climb onto the platform in order to reach it.

_Phew! We ma- _I started to think when a shriek interrupted my thoughts.

"WAAAAAHHH!"

I immediately dove for my falling companion, and luckily, I was able to grab hold of his hand.

"Nnngh!' I grunted as I struggled to lift him up. "Hold on! I'll get you up in no time!" I shouted.

"Well, keep you word on the 'in no time' part, because I'm losing your grip!" he panicked.

Thankfully, I was able to hoist him up to safety. Luigi still had his eyes shut tightly.

"AM I DEAD?!" he shouted in fear, apparently not realizing that he was on solid ground.

"Far from it, my friend." I said, thus causing Luigi to open his eyes. He then came straight to me and hugged me.

"Oh my gosh, I thought I was a goner! Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"Geez, it wasn't that big of a deal!"

_But, how come I struggled to lift him up when I could pick up that Big Bomb-Omb with no problem?_

We both walked towards the star and stared at its beauty.

"Shall we do this together?" I asked.

"You bet!" he said with determination.

We both jumped and grabbed the star at the same time, and were warped out of the Lava Land, and in no time, we were back in the castle dungeons.

"That… was… AWESOME!" Luigi shouted, still anxious from what happened a minute ago.

"You were the one that didn't like this idea in the first place!" I teased.

"Oh, shut up!"

* * *

_(Later that night…)_

"Hey, do you mind if I hang with Toad for the night?" Luigi asked. "He seems awfully lonely…"

"No prob! I'm just going to sleep in my normal spot, okay?"

"Okey dokey! Goodnight, Mario!" he said as he walked over to Toad.

"Goodnight you two!"

I laid down on the sun symbol and tried to fall asleep. I couldn't help but hear what they were saying…

"Hey, Luigi. Do you know why Mario always seems to have nightmares every night?" Toad whispered.

"I don't know. But I have a feeling that those aren't a-nightmares…"

"What do you mean?"

"While I was on my way to the Lethal Lava Land earlier today, I heard Mario say something like this: 'Someone told me where to go.' Okay, maybe not _exactly_ like that. I don't quite remember."

"So, what are you getting at here?"

"What I'm a-getting at is that maybe…"

That's when I fell asleep…

* * *

_"Mario…" Oh, great. Not again… "There is something… that I need to tell you…" "Hm?" "Something about… Luigi… and you…" "What?!"_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_"W-what do you mean?!" "Mario… there is something… about you two… that neither of you know about…" No kidding! "You and Luigi… are brothers…" "WHAT?! How is this even possible?! We're not even from the same world!" "Even I do not know how this is… possible… However… you must tell… Luigi… about it…" "But he'll never believe me!" "That is why you must… tell him about… me… and your… dreams…" Wow, what a coincidence that Luigi and Toad were talking about that earlier tonight. "But..." "No buts about it Mario… you must explain to him… about who… I am…" "But I DON'T know who you are!" "Mario… don't you remember me…? From the Sky Kingdom…?" "No, I- wait… Raiun?! Is that really you?!" "Only if you believe so…" "Wait… what do you mean!?" "…""Hello, Raiun?" "…" "Oh no… not again…" "One more thing…" he said. "Oh! What might it be?" I asked. "Don't speak my name…" "Why?" "He must not know…" "Why?!" "…" Oh! I almost forgot to ask! "Hey, where do I go next?" "…" "Hello? Are you still there, Raiun?" "…" "No…"_

"WAHH!" I woke up, once again screaming.

"Geez!" Luigi exclaimed even more startled than Toad, who was starting to get used to the sudden yells.

"What is it _this _time?" Toad asked, now starting to get sick of my sudden awakenings.

"Um… I need to speak with Luigi… Alone…"

"Okaaaay…?" Luigi slowly said with a suspicious look on his face.

"Follow me," I said as I directed him outside.

"WHAAAAAAT?!" he screamed after I told him what I heard.

"Yup…"

"B-but we aren't even from-"

"The same world? I know… even my dream person doesn't even know why…"

"There you go again with your dreams! What is with that?!"

"I need to tell you that also… You see, apparently these 'dreams' are actually someone back at the Sky Kingdom trying to talk to me. This person can't just talk to me whenever he wants to, so he reaches me through my dreams…"

"So Toad and I were on the right track…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying not to show the fact that I was listening to them the night before.

"Well, I wanted to be with Toad for another reason besides the fact that he was lonely. You see, I wanted answers."

_Aha!_

"So, I asked him if he knew anything, and even told him about what you said as we were on our way to the Lethal Lava Land yesterday."

"M-hm."

"He and I both thought that you were receiving directions of some sort in your head. We didn't know _how,_ but we used what you said to assume that someone, real or not, was telling you to do so. So, yeah."

_Well, now I know what they were getting at with their conversation…_

"Still…" he started.

"Hm?"

"I just don't understand… how…"

"How what?"

"You know! How we can be from two separate lands- no, two separate _worlds, _and still be brothers…"

"Neither of us understood, either."

"Wait. There was another that knows?"

"Yes. My dream person from the Sky Kingdom."

"Oh yeah, that's right."

"Nothing in this world, and probably your world, makes sense…"

He flinched when I said 'your world.'

"But, you know…?" he started.

"What?"

"I'm glad that we are brothers."

I smiled after he said those words.

* * *

_(The rest of this chapter will not be in Mario's perspective, but will be by the next chapter)_

_(In another dimension…)_

"Brothers, huh? Interesting…" said the mystery beast. "Wait…"

* * *

_Okay, just need to say something here. Yes, this is the first time Mario and Luigi EVER met, so of course they never knew that they were brothers. Just sayin'. __J__ Sorry if this chapter was so short. Let's just say that the rest of the day was pretty much just hanging at the castle… doing absolutely nothing… _

**_*This chapter only had one word added to it… "Wait…"*_**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_"Mario…" Please… no more… "Can't there be an easier and less painful way to do this?"_

_"What… do you… mean…?" "I feel like I'm getting hurt whenever I have these dreams. And I always wake up screaming…" "There is… no other… way… Now… I need to tell you… where to go next… Enter the brown door next to the stairs… in that hall… there is a long stretch where a… Boo hangs out… Enter the door it flees to… the punch the largest Boo in the room… full of ghosts… Enter the item it drops… it will lead you to… Big Boo's Haunt… Go onto the balcony and defeat… Big Boo… " "Hey, your speech is starting to become clearer! There aren't as many pauses as you talk!" "The dreams… they must be starting to clear up… can you see anything…?" "No. Not anything… only the pitch black emptiness… Wait… I see some sort of a whitish blur… Is that you?" "Yes… Finally… you are starting to make sense of your… dreams…" "Is there anything else I need to know before it's too late?" "Yes… the time has almost come… the time in which you need to…" "Need to what?" "…" "WHAT?!" "…" "Oh, no… PLEASE! I NEED TO…"_

"WAH!"

"Here we go again," Toad said as he rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, Mario, what has been going on that causes you to scream _every time_ you wake up?" Luigi interrogated, annoyed as well.

_Actually… it feels like I'm getting struck by something every time my dreams end…_

"Forget that, Luigi! You're coming with me again!"

"Oh, boy! Where are we going today?" Luigi asked, forgetting about my dreams and clearly excited for his second outing with me.

"You'll see!" I replied.

We walked toward the right wooden door, and then made a turn for the long hall. We spotted a Boo flying around in circles, enjoying itself. I walked towards it, not intimidated at all. The opposite went for Luigi, who froze in place as far away from the ghoul as possible. His face showed obvious fear. The Boo laughed uncontrollably as it left for the door that we needed to enter.

"What is it, Luigi?" I asked as I walked over to him.

"I-I… I CAN'T STAND GHOSTS!" he shrieked.

"Why? I've never seen any in the Sky Kingdom, and even _I'm _not afraid of it!"

"M-Mario… if _you _went through what _I _went through when it came to ghosts, you would understand… BIG TIME…"

"What do you mean?"

He sighed heavily as he started to explain. "Well, if I must, I must… You see, when I was a kid, I loved to run around and play at night, for I loved to look at the vast world and sky in the darkness. It was an interesting view for me. One night, I was wandering around an open field when I saw a group of peculiar creatures - the Boos. Now, being a child, I wasn't afraid, and actually thought they a-looked cute. I wandered over to say hi when…"

"When what?" I asked in a serious tone of voice.

"They decided to attack for a-no apparent reason…"

"Oh, geez…"

"NOW you see why I _refuse_ to go in there?"

"Yes… I understand perfectly! You don't have to come with me if you don't want to!"

"Okay. In that case, I'm going to go hang with Toad for the day."

"Why, so you can continue talking about me behind my back?" I teased. He didn't deem to take it as a joke, though, for he gave me a disapproving look as he said, "Whatever," and walked away.

_Hmm… He sure seems to be the sensitive type…_

I continued my way down the hall, then entered the small door that lead to an enormous outdoorsy room. It had a large fountain in the middle with stone pathways going everywhere. Where there wasn't stone, there was grass. In addition, there were small trees scattered everywhere. To finish the scene off- a couple dozen Boos floating _everywhere._

_Great. Now how am I going to find the correct Boo? I know Raiun said that I need to get the biggest Boo in the room, but with all of them crowded together like this, I'll NEVER be able to find the right one! Well, I guess I'll just have to scan the room and… Wait… could that one be it? _I thought to myself as I saw a peculiarly large Boo to the far left. I started to walk over to it, when it partially disappeared when I made eye contact with it. It then revealed what seems to be a little dome shaped cage with a red top. Inside, there seemed to be a brown brick structure of some sort.

_That must be what Raiun was talking about…_ I went over to punch the Boo, but my fist went straight through it. _What in the… _I started to back away from the ghastly being, and it then decided to show itself. I turned around to look at it again, and the moment I laid my eyes on it, it disappeared again. _That's strange… Every time I make eye to eye contact with it, it disappears. I wonder if it is possible to hit it when I sneak up behind it… _

I slowly started to walk behind it, but it followed me every step of the way.

_You've GOT to be kidding me! Now what?! Think, Mario, think… AHA! I've got it! I just have to repeat what I did when I was fighting Big Bomb-Omb! _ I ran as far away from it as possible, dashed toward it, summersaulted behind it, and then gave it a good whack. It quickly flew out of sight, dropping the strange item. It stayed the same, tiny size.

_That's strange… I thought that it would be bigger… How do I enter such a-_ I started to think as I walked over to it. When I got close enough, I was sucked into the mini land, shrinking the farther I went in.

"WAAAHHH!"

* * *

I arrived at a creepy area with an enormous haunted mansion before me. All around me, I saw nothing but dark, spooky colors of green, black, grey, brown, and dark blue. I walked up the two sided ramp that lead to the large, and of course freaky door that lead to the entrance of the mansion. The inside, however, was bleak and barren; it only had grey walls and floors with two doors on each wall. There was a giant red and grey staircase leading to the second floor, which also had two doors on each wall (except for the right wall that only had one door.)

_Okay, now which door is the correct one, I wonder…? I guess I'll just have to try out each one, bit by bit._

I first went to the one all the way to the left, and chose the first one out of the two. Inside, the floor was wooden, and the walls were once again a bland grey. In the far corner there was a grand piano with a small wooden chair in front of it. I slowly walked over to the piano, and started to look at it to see if it was hiding anything. Then, without warning the piano started to turn around, knocking the chair over as it started to charge at me with sharp teeth. Every time it chomped, it sounded like someone was slamming on the keys, producing a horrendous sound.

"YAAAAAAHHH!" I screamed as I fled out of the room, my heart pounding like a drum.

"Something tells me that that _WASN'T _the place to go!" I said, out of breath.

"E HE HE HE HE HE! You'll NEVER make it out of here! So you might as well GIVE UP! E HE HE HE!" mocked a voice that sounded like a Boo.

_Okay… Ignore them… I guess I'll just… try the next- Wait. Raiun told me that I need to go onto the balcony… so that means that I need to go to the second floor!_

I started off for the three large steps, and then climbed onto the second floor.

"Now… where do I go…?"

"E HE HE HE HE HE! Still continuing, FOOL! E HE HE HE HE HE HE!" the Boo continued to screech. "You'll never find MEEEEE!"

_Oh, so it's Big Boo talking! But, how do I locate him? Hmmmm… Maybe if I follow his voice…_

"Still STANDING there? E HE HE! Are you thinking about GIVING UP?"

_It seems to be coming from the far right…_

I then ran straight for the door, and entered a room that had a large bookshelf and a risen wood platform. I jumped onto the platform, and looked around to see if there were any areas where the Boo may be hiding. Then, two books with sharp teeth came out of the bookshelf and flung themselves toward me. Thankfully, I was able to duck out of their way just in time before they had a chance to hurt me, and they crashed into the wall.

_Okay… Luigi would definitely be glad that he didn't come to THIS place! _I thought as I looked at the spot where the books crashed. Then, in the corner of my eye, I noticed that there was yet _another_ platform that also had a small door. _Could that be where I need to go?_ I started to jump for it, only to not be able to reach it by about a foot. I then tried to flip up to it, now missing it by about a few inches. _Don't tell me that I can't get up there…_

"E HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE!"

_No… I have to get up there somehow… If only I could still fly… _I thought as I stared at the wall.

_I wonder…? No, that cannot possibly work… Or can it?_

I started to slowly back myself up, and then started to run straight at the wall. I then jumped right into it, and before I crashed, I kicked it, sending me towards the third floor. I barely made it, for I had to grab onto the edge and pull myself up in order to get onto it. I then entered the door, which lead me to a large room with a brick and brown wall and a grey floor. There was a platform that lead to a large set of doors to the right, and to the far left there was a large picture of a Boo hiding its face with its arms on a blue background.

"E HE HE HE HE HE! I never knew that you would be able to FIND ME! Now, can you DEFEAT me is the REAL QUESTION here! E HE HE HE HE!"

With nothing but determination, I entered the large set of doors, and before me was an extremely large Boo, five times bigger than the one I had to defeat in order to get to this place (which was about as big as myself.)

"E HE HE HE HE HE HE HE! I'm GLAD you could MAKE IT! E HE HE! Now we can let the REAL fun begin! E HE HE HE HE!" he screeched.

Just as I had done earlier with the other Boo, I jumped over the enormous ghost and slammed it when it wasn't looking. It was shoved away from me by a short distance, and seemed to decrease in size. It was now twice as tall as I was.

"How DARE you! Well, I will still be able to WIN! And then you will NEVER ESCAPE! E HE HE HE HE HE!"

_Talk about overconfidence!_

I zipped around him and gave him a good slap again, and this time, he shrunk down to the size of a regular Boo.

_This is going to be a piece of cake, now!_

"Ooogh," it moaned, not even attempting to go after me. I was then able to simply walk behind it, and I then proceeded to punch it.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" it screamed as it poofed into the air. Then, as usual, out popped a shiny star. Unfortunately, it landed on the top of the roof, so it was difficult for me to reach it. So, as fact as my legs could possibly go, I scurried up the steep roof, then miraculously jumped onto the part of the roof that the star was perched on top of. I jumped for the little beauty, then immediately teleported out of the haunted mansion.

* * *

I ran straight out of the room as fast as possible, trying to avoid the numerous Boos angrily chasing after me. I then dashed down the hall, excited to tell Luigi what happened. As I entered the main room, I eagerly started to say, "Guys, you will not _believe _what went on in there! I- Hey… what's a-with you two?" I asked.

They were both staring at me awkwardly.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"What? Is it something I said?" I asked, confused by the situation. They just continued to stare at me, their expressions not changing. Well, one of them did, at least.

_Wait… Did I just see Toad… smile?!_

"Okay, guys, seriously. Did you a-start talking about me again, or are you just being a couple of…"

"AH HA HA HA HA!" they both started to laugh.

"What?!" I asked, now _extremely _annoyed.

"You totally fell for it!" Toad said as he continued to giggle.

"Luigi, _what_ is going on?!"

"I dunno. I just went with him! Ha ha!"

"You two make absolutely _no_ sense!" I teased as I too started to laugh.

"Anyway, it's pretty late. We should all go to sleep, now," Luigi said.

_Go to sleep? Ugh! I wonder what he's going to tell me a-this time…_

"Okey-dokey. Goodnight everybody!" I said.

"Goodnight!" Luigi and Toad said in unison.

_"Ma…rio…" _Raiun said, sounding like he was struggling to speak. _"Raiun! What's the trouble?! You seem like you are hurt! And how come you are coming in like static on a radio? What's going on!?" "Ma…ri…o… Ene…my is fi…nal…y ab…le…to… compe…te…ly… cu…t us…off… Ngh!" "What do you mean by _finally_? Do you mean that all this time, Enemy has been - AGH! Why am I… hurting?!" "M…ari…o… it's becau…se… Ene…my is… har…ming… us… by do…ing so…" "No!" "Ye…s… No…w… I… mu…st… tell… you…th…is bef…ore it's… too… lat…e… Go… to the… Agh! Mirr…or… roo…m… The… lef…t wall… enter…i…t… it wi…ll… lead…yo…u to… Ice… Bully…" "Yes, I… agh! Understand… Raiun… But what about… Enemy? How do we stop him from doing this to us?" "Th…ere is… no… way… How…ev…er… it is… possi…ble to… free th…ose trap…ed in the… cas…tle… wa…lls…" "But WHERE?!" "Go- AGH!" "Raiun?!" "I must… no…t… gi…ve… awa…y his… loc…at…ion… it" "But then how will I ever find him?" "Ma…rio… Listen to your heart… Only… you… c…an… fig…ure… out… wh…ere… he… i…s… I… have… faith… in… you… M…a…ri…o… I… had… fa…ith… in… y…ou… fro…m th…e… st…a…rt… I…kn…o…w… yo…u… wi…ll… mak…e i…t… I… ju…s…t… k…n…o…w…" "Raiun…" "…" "Raiun?" "…" "Raiun?!" "…" "RAIUUUUUN!" "BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" _screeched an unfamiliar voice.

* * *

_Okay, don't ask why Luigi and Toad were being pranksters in the beginning. I guess it just is a way to show what good friends they've become! Also, it seems that Mario's dreams are starting to go way out of hand…_ _Sorry if this chapter was short, but it is for a good reason…_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

_"R- Raiun?! That isn't YOU, is it?!" _I asked, unsure of why there has been a sudden change in voice. _"No, FOOL! Raiun cannot talk at the… moment… Heh heh heh…" "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH RAIUN YOU FIEND?!" "Nothing! Nothing at all! Besides, what's the point of talking with Raiun and wasting your time defeating those monsters when there is no way to free your friends?" "What do you… mean…?" _I wearily asked the mystery person. "_You see, even if you did defeat this 'Enemy' and gained the power of the stars, it wouldn't be enough to free those trapped in the walls…" "Wait… what? But Raiun said…" "Forget what he said, for all of it was false." "No way!" "Yes…" _the mysterious person said, sounding just as depressed as I was. _"But… this couldn't have been… for nothing…" "Unfortunately, it was…" "…" Could this really be true? Was all of this just a waste of time? No… it can't be… NO! THIS CAN'T BE TRUE! I WON'T BELIEVE IT!" "MARIO!" _screamed a familiar voice. _Raiun! "DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! IT'S ALL LIES BEING TOLD TO YOU! ALL BY ENEMY! ENEMY IS TALKING TO YOU THIS MOMEN-" "SILENCE!" "MARIO! WAKE UUUUUUP!"_

"AAAAAAAAHH!" I screamed, a lot more frightened than usual. I felt as if I was struck by lightning.

"Oh my GOSH! Will you just stop with the-" Toad started.

"Mario!" Luigi called, obviously noticing that there was something horribly wrong. "You seem more distressed than usual. What did he tell you this time?"

All I could do was breathe heavily, my eyes wide open with fear.

"M-Mario…?" Luigi asked quietly, extremely worried.

"I… I'll… be… fine…" I said out of breath, excruciated. "Come on, Luigi. We have to… go on another adventure… to find a star…"

"Okay…" Luigi glumly replied, still concerned about what happened.

We climbed up the stairs that lead to another set of stairs. We entered the door that lead to the large room with the brick wall. We then entered the large room with the mirror. I looked over to the left wall, only to see that it did not have a painting. I walked over to it and put my hand on it. It went through.

"Hey, Luigi. I think this is it. Luigi?" I said as I turned around to see him in front of the mirror, his hand pressed onto it.

"Luigi? What is it?"

"Oh," he sighed, "it's nothing."

"What?"

"I… I'm, just remembering the first time I met you…"

"Oh… Well, that's not nothing!"

"Believe me, I know that!" I said as we both gazed at each other smiling.

"Come on! We need to go!" I said as I jumped into the wall.

"Oh! Coming, Mario!" he called as he jumped in after me.

* * *

We landed in a land that was entirely covered in snow. Not far from us was an enormous mountain – no, an enormous _snowman_, and there was an icy pathway in front of it with a penguin happily waddling about. We started down toward a large icy platform. There, a giant creature made out of ice was angrily stomping about.

"Well, Luigi, I guess this is the Ice Bully."

"Y-y-y-y-yup."

"What's the matter? Are you a-frightened or something?"

"N-n-n-n-no. J-j-just f-f-freezing."

"Oh, Luigi!" I laughed as a walked toward the Bully.

"E-easy f-for you to s-s-say…" Luigi said, still shivering like crazy.

I jumped onto the platform, readying myself for a tough fight with the chilly Bully. Then, I heard Luigi call me.

"Hey, Mario… you m-might want to check this out."

"What is it?"

"A w-warning sign."

"What does it say?" I asked, knowing that the Ice Bully was completely unaware of my presence.

"It s-s-says: 'WARNING! K-KEEP OFF OF I-I-ICE! IT WILL H-HARM YOU ON C-C-CONTACT.' I wonder w-what that m-m-means?"

"I think it means – oomph!" I started to explain, only to be shoved off of the edge by the Ice Bully, now fully aware of my existence. "YOOOOOOOOOWWW!" I screamed as I jumped in pain.

"You d-didn't need to _show_ me, Mario!"

"I didn't _mean_ to…" I struggled to get back onto my feet, and Luigi and I went straight back onto the icy floor to confront the Ice Bully.

"Get ready to turn into a puddle, you giant ice cube with feet!" Luigi taunted, now used to the cold. The Bully, now in a rage, charged after us. Luigi and I got straight out of the way, and in no time, we shoved the beast onto the freezing ice below us. Then, the star shot up into the air, then landed right in the middle of the icy stage.

"That was… a lot… easier than I thought…" Luigi said with a suspicious look on his face.

_Hmmm…_

* * *

_(Back at the castle's main room…)_

"Whoa! You guys got back quicker than I thought!" Toad exclaimed, somewhat startled from our early return.

"I know! The Ice Bully didn't even _try_ that hard!" Luigi stated.

"But _why? _Isn't Enemy trying to get _rid _of Mario?!" Toad said, baffled.

"Yeah. But what I still don't get is why he would send such a lousy minion to guard a star!" Luigi said, just as confused as Toad was.

"It may not actually be a lousy minion…" I said.

"But… it… didn't even _try _to fight!" Luigi tried to correct.

"I know, but it may have done so for a good reason." I said.

* * *

_Sorry if this chapter wasn't very eventful, but like Mario said, the fight was easy fora good reason…_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"What do you mean?" Toad asked, puzzled.

"What I mean is, maybe Enemy told the Ice Bully to be lousy _on purpose." _I said.

"Huh? But _why?_ Enemy is trying to destroy you!" Luigi said. "Besides, there can be no possible way for Enemy to know that you're here!"

"Actually…" I started.

"What?! You don't mean that…" Toad said.

"Yup. Enemy knows that I'm here…"

"How?" Luigi asked in a panic.

"Well, I think I made a fatal decision when I went to the Bomb-Omb Battlefield, before I met you, Luigi. I decided to enter the battle with my wings on my cap. This alarmed Big Bomb-Omb, and after the fight, he must've informed Enemy about my arrival." I explained. _Now I know what Raiun meant when he said 'You must be a silent warrior…'_

"But," Toad started to say, "I still don't understand why Enemy would tell the Ice Bully to fight horribly…"

"It may be because he doesn't want me to get any _better at fighting._" I said.

"Makes sense…" Toad said.

"But, why would he waste his time doing that when you're already amazing at fighting?" Luigi said with a smile.

_But… I'm not amazing… I'm okay, but not amazing…_

"So, Mario, I'm just curious. How many more monsters are there to beat?" Toad asked with extreme curiosity.

"One more…"

"Oh! Who is it? Did your dream person tell you?" Luigi asked, even more curious than Toad.

"Actually… kind of…" I told them.

"_Kind of?_ Who is it?" Luigi asked, now more worried than anything.

"The monster we have to beat is… Enemy himself…" I said.

"WHAT?!" they both shouted in unison.

"Has the time really come already?!" Luigi asked.

"Yup." I said.

"Do you know where he is?" Luigi asked.

_Wait… do I? No… Raiun never told me… All he said was… Wait… What did he say?_

"Mario?" Luigi asked as I was deep in thought.

"Maybe if I sleep here again… Maybe then I will remember…" I said to myself.

"Sounds like a smart idea…" Luigi said.

_Oh! Did he think I was talking to him? Well, at least it didn't sound too obvious that I was talking to myself…_

"Yeah, it's _really_ late. We should best be off going to sleep. Maybe Mario will find answers tonight!" Toad said.

"Good idea," Luigi said. "Goodnight!"

* * *

_"…" "…" "…" "H-hello?" _I asked as my voice echoed in the empty darkness._ "…" "Is anybody a-here?" "…" "Raiun?" "…" "Anybody?" "…" "Please… I need to know where Enemy is…" "…" "Raiun…?" "…" "No…" "Listen…" "Hm? Raiun?!" "Listen…" Wait… I can't… hear his voice… in the open… It's as if it's… in my… head… "Listen to your heart…" Wait… that sounds familiar… "Listen to your heart… only you can figure out where he is… Listen… Listen…"_

"WAAAH!"

"YIKES!" Luigi and Toad screamed as they woke up, startled by my scream.

"What did he say, Mario?" Luigi hurriedly asked.

"He… said… well…" I started. They both stared at me, puzzled.

"Um… he actually didn't say anything…" I said.

"What do you mean?" Luigi asked.

"Well… it's as if I… remembered what he told me…"

"What did he tell you earlier?" Toad asked.

"He said for me to listen to my heart, and that only I can know where to locate Enemy…"

"Weird…" Toad said.

"But… where do we look?" Luigi asked.

"I think we should start to look where we haven't been before. Let's check upstairs," I said to Luigi as I made a hand motion for him to follow me.

We climbed the winding staircase, and then started to look around to see if there were any strange looking paintings. We felt all of the numerous paintings on the walls, but none rippled like they should've.

"It's no use!" Luigi said as he slammed his fist on a painting of a couple of Goombas. "There is no portal _anywhere!_ AGH!" he whined as he slammed his hands onto the wall for a final time. The sound echoed throughout the large room. I was over by a set of stairs, looking around to see if there was any sign of a strange portal. Then…

_Why do I feel so… strange…? It's like what I felt when I first decided to sleep on the sun symbol… I wonder…_

"Hey, Luigi!"

"Yes?"

"I think I a-found the way!"

"Where?"

"Up the stairs! Quickly!" I shouted as I darted up the staircase.

I then entered a large star door that lead to a large light blue room. In front of me was a giant grandfather clock that had the top of a tree. There was a large brown platform that rose to a gap in the wall on both sides of the room, left and right. Behind me was an enormous staircase that had two sets of stairs on either side leading to another large star door. The floor had a dark and light blue checkered pattern, the top of the wall had a star pattern, and the celling was black.

"Whoa… this is cool…" Luigi said in awe as he finally caught up to me.

_There's that strange sensation again… Why do I feel the need to climb those stairs…? That must be… where Enemy… is…_

"Luigi! Follow me up the stairs! I have a feeling that's where Enemy is!"

"Oh, boy!"

We climbed the enormous stairs, and then slowly approached the star door. A nervous sensation swept me as we got closer. We both readied ourselves to open the door, only to be interrupted by sinister laughter.

"BWA HA HA HA HA HA! THE SKY WARRIOR IS THE ONLY ONE WORTHY OF ENTERING! ALL OTHERS THAT ATTEMPT TO TRY WILL FACE A FLIGHT OF NEVER ENDING STAIRS! SO TURN BACK, YOU WIMPLY LITTLE GREEN WEAKLING! ONLY MARIO MAY ENTER… BWA HA HA HA HA…!"

"Wait… I can't… come with you…?" Luigi squeaked, trying to hold back tears.

"I guess not…" I said, depressed.

He stared into my eyes, a look of hope in them.

"I… know that you will do well, Mario…" Luigi said. "I knew you could do great things the day I met you…"

"Thanks… Luigi…"

Luigi gave me a quick hug, the slowly started to walk away.

_Well, I guess this is it…_

I entered the door. Inside, there was a very steep and tall red staircase. On the brown brick walls, I saw portraits of the same girl that was on the front of the castle all along them.

I slowly walked up the stairs, the room dark with very little light.

_Am I actually ready for this? Is it even a wise decision to take on Enemy so soon? No… I have to stay strong… I know this is the right thing to do. If it weren't, I wouldn't have had those strange sensations…_

I slowly approached a squared hole in the grey and white checkered floor. It was surrounded by a short brick wall on all four sides. Fire torches were hung on the walls, giving off the only light that the room had to offer.

I peeked into the hole, only to see darkness.

_Well, this is it… Time to save the people… my friends…_

"HERE I… GOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as I back-flipped into the hole.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"BWA HA HA HA HA! SO, YOU ACTUALLY HAVE THE GUTS TO COME AND FACE ME… WELL, I WARN YOU, YOU WON'T BE COMING BACK AFTER I'M THROUGH WITH YOU! HEH HEH HEH…"

I landed in a strange world. The sky was a cloudy purple and pink, and there was a hazard of falling everywhere I turned. The platform that I was standing on consisted of yellow stone, and was shaped like an arrow pointing forward.

_I'll show you what you get for messing with these people…!_

I ran across the yellow arrow, and then jumped over to three separated stone slabs that increasingly got larger that formed what seems to be a stairway. Without any haste, I jumped from slab to slab. I then had to dodge something blue that came out of the wall and tried to push me out, similar to what tried to shove me off of the edge at Whomp's Fortress. I jumped straight onto the blue rectangle, and then nimbly jumped across to the next area. I slowly started to walk across the M shaped pathway, when it started to tilt. I was nearly shoved off of the edge, and I had to climb back up before I lost my grip. Then I proceeded to the next spot. Before me was a ramp that went straight up and down. There were light orange arrows suggesting that I go up it. _But… how?! There is no way that it is possible to climb THAT! Well, I can't be stopped by something like this! I have to try, or I'll never reach Enemy!_

I backed up a bit, and then charged straight for the vertical drop.

"Well, here I go…" To my surprise, I actually made it up the strange slope. Without even slightly pausing, I continued to run over to a rapidly rotating octagonal platform, dodging two angry Goombas along the way. I then ran past an Amp before it had the chance to zap me. Next, I went around the corner of the path that was cut off by the rotating octagon, and jumped on an oncoming Piranha Plant before it could launch a fire ball at me. I then jumped over onto a yellow wooden 'bridge' that tilted when I landed on it. I ran over to the other side of it, and it started to tilt downwards when I reached the end. I then looked at the other side, and ran over to it. It tilted again. I noticed that it reached the platform that I needed to reach next, so, I ran as fast as I could, and safely landed on the small platform that rotated like a Ferris wheel. I then jumped off and got ready to continue on my way.

_Oh great. _I thought as I saw a large ball of fire launched straight at me. Luckily, I ducked out of its way just in time. If I didn't, I would've fallen into the vast nothingness below me.

"Now how am I going to get past there?"

"YOU CAN'T…" growled a familiar voice.

_Wow. Talk about being persistent! Enemy sure does try. Good thing he isn't good at it!_

I then climbed back onto the "Ferris wheel" and looked around at its highest peak to see if there was any way to get around the fire breathing Kuromame.

_Wait just a moment. I think I can reach the upper path from up there!_ I thought as I was coming down. I prepared to back-flip onto the upper road, and when the time was right, I successfully landed without any problems.

I then started to walk towards a less steep looking slope. I jumped over the strange looking purple button on the ground, jumped over the gap, and attempted to climb up it like the other one. Strangely, I slid down it as if it were a slide.

_Weird… I could climb up a slope five times steeper than this without any problems, but when it comes to _this_ one, it's impossible… What in the world?!_

I turned around and jumped over towards that strange button.I looked at it for a moment or two, and then noticed that it had a huge white exclamation point on it.

_Well, it's worth a shot, I guess, _I thought as I walked onto it. To my luck, it caused the slippery green checkered slope to turn into stairs. I ran over towards them and started to jump in a frenzy, for I could hear the sound of a ticking clock in the background. I reached the top before it was too late, and when the ticking stopped, the stairs turned back into a slope. I then ran up yet another straight drop slope (though this one was green and became straight at one point.) I then had to stop in order to avoid being burned by a stream of fire that was aimed straight across the path (I still don't know how it was possible for me to not slide down.) The slope came to be straight for a short while; a perfect time for me to rest a while.

"Wow… This has been quite an adventure… I wonder how much longer it will take for me to find Enemy…" I said as I looked up at the road ahead of me. "Ugh… There's still quite a ways to go… But… where's Enemy?" I then noticed something green at the end of the road. It seemed to be like a pipe of some sort… _There's that funky feeling again…_

"Alright!" I said as I got back up. "It's time to finish this once and for all!" I then continued my trek to locate Enemy. I started down the steep drop, running past two more streams of fire. I then arrived at a small checkered floor where I saw a white platform with a light red arrow on it. It seemed to be attached to something.

"Okey-dokey, I guess that I need to walk on a- YOOOOOW!" I screamed as a Piranha Plant launched a fireball at me. I dashed over towards the strange platform, still hurting like crazy.

"Ugh…"

The platform started to move, and I had to jump onto a stationary stone one right above so I wouldn't get shoved off. I then saw a little see through heart-shaped object floating in front of me.

_What in the world…? _I thought as I went over to it and touched it. The moment my hand went through it, the pain from the fire instantly went away. _Strange… _"OH!" I shouted in surprise as I dove after the moving platform that continued to move forward without me. I then jumped and climbed over several large pieces of rectangular wood that got in my way. I landed back onto solid ground, and then ran as fast as I could to avoid two little Bomb-Ombs that were chasing me.

I jumped over to two more octagonal rotating platforms where I climbed a blue striped pole that was on the second one. I climbed off of it when I reached the top, avoided yet another couple of Goombas, then ran towards a yellow platform that came out and withdrew itself at a pretty decent pace. I then leaped onto another pole, climbed to the very top of it, then leaped onto the other identical yellow platform. I then continued up the road, and saw two "Ferris wheel style" rotating platforms (four platforms to each one.)I swiftly jumped into the first one, then onto the second. I then jumped yet again, but this time onto the grey stone path. I took a right turn, and right ahead was four pillars on a stony area with a few Goombas wandering about. As I climbed up to it, a strong gust of wind came and attempted to blow me off. But I was stronger. I was able to push myself forward, and in less than a minute, I was climbing up the light blue stairs that lead to the green pipe that was on top of a few circular stone slabs.

"Well, I guess this is-" I started to say before a voice interrupted me.

"STOP! DO NOT GO INTO THAT PIPE!" he hollered.

"Why should I listen to you…?" I said untrustingly.

"You realize that even if you attempt to defeat Enemy, it would all be in vain?"

"Yeah, I was already told that by Enemy, and he was lying. Raiun said so…"

"But Raiun was lying when he said that it was enemy who was talking to you. He was lying…"

"NO HE WASN'T! I WAS TOLD THE TRUTH!" I screamed into the purple sky, now seething with rage. When somebody insults Raiun in front of me, they better prepare themselves for a fight…

"Mario… I meant to tell you this before you left our home… the Sky Kingdom…"

"Wait… I don't even know…! Wait… Neil…? Is that really… you…?" I asked, my anger now down to nothing.

"Yes, Mario… And I'm telling you that Raiun wasn't telling you the truth in that dream…"

"Wait… how do _you _know about that dream?!" I interrogated as I started to get suspicious.

"Raiun told me… Anyway, Mario, before you cause yourself any pain, you need to turn back… for there is no way to rescue anyone…"

"But… _how?_"

"This was all made up by Raiun… to see if you were even worthy… Sure, Enemy does exist… but he's unable to be stopped…"

"But… Raiun would never deceive anyone…"

"But… he did…"

_No…_ _Is this really… true? Is Raiun really that selfish? No… I've been around him my entire life, and he never did anything like that! This can't be true…_

"I'm just warning you Mario… Go before it's too late…" Neil said.

_Wait… There's no way for _anyone_, even Raiun to reach me from the Sky Kingdom without me being asleep or on that sun shaped symbol in the castle! I think I know who this fake Neil really is!_

"I WON'T FALL FOR YOUR TRAP ENEMY!" I screamed as I jumped into the pipe.


	17. Chapter 17

_As you may have noticed, I re-rated this T just to be safe… Sorry for the sudden change…_

* * *

**Chapter 17**

"Fool… You… FOOL!" he growled. I was standing on a floating stone battlefield. There were large spike balls at each corner of the dark blue, hexagonal shaped battlefield, which was floating against a dark blue/purple cloudy sky. There was no one else to be seen...

"Come out and fight, you coward!" I challenged as I quickly turned around to see if I could spot Enemy.

"Coward? Heh heh heh... That was a pretty pathetic comment, if you ask me…" he growled.

"You're the one who's pathetic!"

"Oh! So you want to play it _that_ way, do you!?" he said as he slowly started to emerge out of the shadows. I froze in fear as I stared at the monster before me with wide, alert eyes. He was a large, yellow, turtle-like beast with a spiky green shell and horns on his head. Need I say more?

"Y-you look a lot… different than I thought…" I said as I still gazed at the beast, my expression not changing.

"Go figure! What did you expect me to look like?! A fuzzy little puppy!?" he roared.

"No… Now, enough sarcasam, Enemy!" I said, now ready to take him on, "For it's time to get this battle started!"

"WILL YOU PLEASE STOP CALLING ME THAT?! What kind of a name is "Enemy" ANYWAY?! I AM BOWSER! BOWSER KOOPA! AND I'M GONNA TAKE OVER THE MUSHROOM- no, THE WORLD! So, GET OUT OF MY FACE, Sky Warrior, for I AM GOING TO TAKE YOU DOWN!" he roared as he breathed his horrible fire breath into the air.

"RAAAAAAGH!"

"Wait, so it was _you _that killed all of the other Sky Warriors!"

"Yes! It was also I who tapped into your dreams to cut you off from your precious Raiun! I mean COME ON! Those inspirational words sickened me! And yes, I knew that you were here, thanks to that lovely Big Bomb-Omb. So, I was then able to watch you through this exact same area…"

"Y-you FIEND!"

"Now, where were we? Oh, yes, now I remember! BRING IT ON, SKY WARRIOR!" he challenged as he breathed even more fire at me. I dodged out of its way, and then ran straight over and gave him a good kick.

"You can't hurt me _that _way, you idiot!" he said as he swiped his sharp claws at me. I got out of his way once again, and without thinking, I stared to run.

_Great. Now what do I do?! _ I thought as Bowser was chasing after me in a rage. Then, I started to remember…

_"You see, hitting and punching will do no good!" Big Bomb-Omb laughed. "You must pick me up and throw me! But there is no way for a wimp like you to do that!"_

_That's it! But, he's fifty times heavier than that Bomb! There will be no way I can do that…!_

"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING FROM MEEE?! LET ME GUESS, TOO _SCARED_?! WHO'S THE COWARD _NOW, _WIMP?!" he taunted as he breathed fire at me. I barely jumped out of the way, and I fell onto the ground.

_What's the point of getting up when… there's no way I can do this…? _I thought as I laid on the ground. Bowser was slowly walking towards me.

"Oh, so you are going to GIVE UP now?! BWA HA HA HA HA HA!"

_"I… know that you will do well, Mario…" Luigi said. "I knew you could do great things the day I met you…"_

_L-Luigi…_ I thought as I remembered what he told me before I left for my final quest.

_"I had faith in you from the start… I know you will make it… I just know…"_

_Raiun…_

_"I didn't mean to startle you. I'm just glad that you are doing well! You know, with this whole star collecting thing and all. It seems really hard! But, being a Sky Warrior, it mustn't be that hard!"_

_And little Toad… What am I doing lying here!? I need to continue trying… I will not give up hope… EVER!_

"RAAAAAAAGH!" I screamed as I went straight for Bowser's tail. I grabbed it without any hesitation.

"W-what are you _doing?!_ Put me down THIS INSTANT!" he shouted as I attempted to lift him up. Then, to both of our surprise, I started to lift him up as I swung him around in circles, slowly at first, then faster, faster, faster!

"Woaoaoaoaoa! Bowser shrieked as I rapidly spun him around. I then let go of his tail, thus causing him to fly off into the distance.

"So long, Enemy!" I called as he flew straight into a spiked ball, which exploded upon contact. Bowser was flung right back onto the battlefield, and he got up with little hesitation.

"So, you think you can do that to ME?! Well THINK AGAIN!" he screamed as he charged at me with fiery breath. I barely made it out of its way, and then I dashed right behind the evil beast and grabbed his tail again. Without any hesitation, I threw him again, and he landed right on another spiky bomb.

"NOW I'M REALLY MAAAAAAAD!" he roared as he started to stomp up and down.

"S-stop! You're breaking up the battleground!" I screamed as pieces of it started to crumble off. Strangely, after it stopped falling apart, it resembled a star.

"BWOOOOR!" Bowser roared as he jumped up and slammed onto the middle of the field. A circular electric shock wave spread across the entire floor. I jumped out of its way, and then ran right after Bowser. He also charged straight after me, and we both faced a nasty collision.

"Grrrn…" Enemy grunted as he struggled to get up.

"Nnngh…" I said as I attempted to stand up. However, I was too weak to get up…

Enemy continued to struggle as I laid there exhausted.

_Ugh… Must… try… to… get…up…_

Bowser finally stumbled back up, and he slowly started to walk over to me.

"Nnnngh!" I groaned as I tried to get myself back on my feet. _No…_

* * *

_"Mario…" What?! I-is that… Raiun?! "Mario… Get up! I know you can defeat him!" "But I… can't…" "Mario! I know you can make it! You were strong enough to get past Enemy's lies, so you are still strong enough to defeat him!" "How? I'm not at the…" "Mario… don't worry about that… I know you can do this… You may not have much physical strength left in you, but as long as your spirit stays strong… you can do anything… I just know it…_

* * *

I slowly woke up to the sight of Bowser looking at me, saying, "I think he'd dead. Wait… WHAT!? YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!" he roared as he attempted to swipe at me with his giant claws. I rolled right out of the way and continued to struggle to get up. Then, the impossible happened.

A sparkling light came down and gleamed upon me. Then, the light came and started to form something on top of my head.

"My… my wings…" I said.

"Wh- WHAT!?" Bowser screamed as I slowly floated up and landed on my feet gently. I then darted straight at Bowser, knocked him down, and then grabbed his tail. I then flew up, Enemy in my hands. I then spun around in midair, readying myself to throw him.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT MEEEEEEE!" Bowser screamed as I threw him into another bomb.

"RAAAAAAAAGH!" he shrieked as he slammed onto the ground.

"Ha HA!" I shouted in joy as I spun around in the air.

"No… How… How could… you… beat… me… so… easily…"

"Because my spirit stayed strong!" I simply replied.

"Ugh… I can't STAND losing to a Sky Warrior… Now… I can see… peace… returning… No…" he said as he slowly began to fade away. I could then see an enormous star; one that was larger than all of the rest… It sparkled and shone as it leaped into the air, and then bounced proudly on the ground. It then stopped and floated in one place… peacefully. I slowly walked over to it, and stared at the giant beauty.

_I… I did it… _I thought as I slowly touched the star. It gradually floated over to me, and when it reached me, I prepared to take off. I jumped, then summersaulted, and finally flipped into the air and slowly soared away from the fading dimension…


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

I slowly landed in front of the castle. _Finally, I'm back…_ My wings slowly started to fade away. I saw the door slowly open. _Here they come. _Suddenly, the door burst open as a mob of Toads (and my brother) came rushing out. They all ran behind me, and Toad then nudged me forward. I looked at them with surprise.

"Go to the bridge!" one of the Toads whispered. I did as he said and I slowly walked over to the bridge. Then, without even knowing why, I raised my arm and spread out my hand. Then, the large Power Star, along with the other stars I collected from the minions came out. The largest star covered the stained glass, and the other six stars slowly rotated counterclockwise around the larger star. We all watched in awe as the stars joined with the Power Star, thus making it even _bigger._ Then the new Power Star started to rotate around the stained glass, went to the middle of it, rapidly spun around in place, and then slowly faded away. The sparkling magic it produced stayed, however, and started to reveal… the same girl that was pictured on the glass… She slowly started to fade in, and she gradually started to float down to the surface. She then landed gently, her eyes closed. The Toads, Luigi and I stared in awe as she slowly started to open her light blue eyes.

"Princess Peach…" one of the Toads said.

She started to look all around, and then noticed me standing in front of her. I took of my hat and held it in front of me, for I knew for certain that she was royalty.

"Princess…" I said as I bowed.

"What might your name be, oh great Sky Warrior?" she kindly asked.

"Mario…"

"Well, Mario, I want to thank you! The power of the Stars has restored to the castle, and Enemy is gone for good! And it's all thanks to you!" she said. Everyone started to cheer in sheer delight.

"Wait a moment," I said. The cheering and jumping stopped.

"What is it?" she asked, worried about my tone of voice.

"It wasn't just me that did this!" I said with a smile as I turned around to look at Luigi and Toad, who were standing together.

"Without Luigi and Toad's encouragement, I wouldn't have made it! Thank you…" I said to them.

"WOOOOO!" the crowd cheered as they all started to jump for joy again.

"We have to do something special," she said. "We should bake a cake! For our heroes!" she said as she started to walk into the castle. Hundreds of Toads followed her in, followed by Toad, then Luigi. I slowly started to walk in, but I stopped and looked at the beautiful sky.

"Of course, I couldn't do it without your help, too, Raiun…" I whispered.

"Mario!" Peach called.

"Oh! Coming!" I called as I ran into the castle.

* * *

_(Later that night…)_

"I just want to thank you all for your support! Especially you, Mario, Luigi and Toad! Without all of your hard work, we would all still be trapped within the castle walls," Peach said.

"But, I really didn't do that much…" Toad whispered to Luigi as Peach continued to talk.

"Kid, just take the glory and enjoy it!" Luigi said.

"Okay!" Toad said with a smile. I laughed as I heard them talk, and then Luigi turned around and smiled at me.

"So, without further ado… To our Heroes!" Peach finished.

"TO OUR HEROES!" everybody shouted.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

It was 11:30 p.m. Everyone was still awake and lively. However the party turned more into gathering around the television playing the Nintendo 64 than anything else. I, however, snuck outside to do my favorite thing in the world – stargazing.

"Wow… Tonight is especially beautiful…" I said as I enjoyed the cool breeze that gently blew.

"Mario…"

"Hm?" I exclaimed as I turned around to see if anyone was at the door. "Luigi? Is that you?"

"No, Mario. It's me, Raiun."

"What?! But how? I'm not even asleep! I know you pulled off reaching me without the strange sun symbol, which I still don't know what it is, but talking to me without me being asleep?! Next thing you know you'll be-"

"Mario. Calm down. First off, that sun symbol is the symbol of the Sky Warrior."

"What?! I _knew _that there was something strange about that symbol!" I said.

"You see," Raiun started, "this castle used to be where the Sky Warriors would rest and return to the Sky Kingdom if needed. They could also communicate with me… But, when Enemy came into full control, he made it impossible for me to talk to you like we are now. So, I had to attempt to reach you through the only other option – your dreams…"

"Okay."

"Now, what I was going to tell you earlier was that your time here is drawing to a conclusion…" he said solemnly.

"W-what do you mean?!" I asked, my heart racing with fear.

"You cannot stay here, unfortunately… So, at the stroke of twelve, you will stand on the symbol of the Sky Warrior, and will return to the Sky Kingdom… permanently…"

"P-permanently?!" I shrieked.

"Your duties as a Sky Warrior are over… Besides, I am the only one that can send you down, anyway…"

"I-I have to leave all of my friends…?" I squeaked.

"I am afraid so… I do not want to take the risk of leaving you here where you can get harmed… However…"

"Hm?"

"I will allow you to look down upon the Mushroom Kingdom from the Sky Kingdom, which you were forbidden to do before you came here…"

"Okay…" I said, trying not to cry.

"Now go… I will see you later…" he said as his voice faded away.

_Leave… forever…?_

"Hey, Mario!" a happy voice called to me.

_Luigi…_

"Hello, Luigi," I said, trying to keep my spirit up. He didn't need to know what was going on.

"Do you want to play video games with us? We're about to play Donkey Kong 64!" he said with a huge smile.

"I would love too, but I have something to take care of…" I said.

"Okay," Luigi said as he left for the enormous castle. He had no clue about wat was going to happen.

"Hey Luigi, I know this is a weird question but… what time is it?"

"11:55," he said. "What's so weird about that?"

_Oh, no… five more minutes…_

Luigi disappeared into the castle, and I slowly followed him in. I then stood on the symbol of the Sky Warrior and waited.

"What are you _doing, _Mario?" Luigi asked. He had returned to the room out of curiosity. I wish that he didn't.

"Doing what I need to take care of," I simply replied, still trying not to cry.

"Why are you just standing there?" Luigi asked, now suspicious of something horribly wrong.

"Luigi… I…I…" I started to say. "I'm leaving the Mushroom Kingdom forever!" I cried as I burst into tears.

"W-what do you mean?!" Luigi asked in complete shock.

"Raiun said that I have to return to the Sky Kingdom…"

"Why?!" Luigi asked, now completely troubled.

"My duties here are done…" I said as I started to glow. The darkened room then brightened up, and the roof seemed to look more like the sky in the daytime.

"What?" Luigi asked, completely confused and depressed at the same time. "Are you going to DIE?!"

"No, Luigi… I'm just going back home… I must go, now…" I said as the wings started to appear on my hat like a sparkling light show.

"But… Mario… I don't…" Luigi started.

"I know, Luigi. I do not want to leave, either," I said as I started to glow a soft white.

"Take me with you!" he cried.

"Unfortunately, the Sky Kingdom is hidden from the rest of this world… People who aren't from it can't come even for a short visit. It is impossible…" If that didn't apply, however, I would've said yes without a doubt.

He just stared at me, tears swelling in his eyes. We had only known each other for such a short time, and now we were forced to leave each other…

"Luigi… say goodbye to the others for me… will ya?" I said with a smile as I started to float up into the sky.

"I will…" Luigi replied, his voice trembling.

"Don't… forget me… Luigi…" I said as I finally disappeared, my voice slowly fading away…

"I won't…" he said.

* * *

_I know this seems to be the end of the story here, but don't forget to read the Epilogue!_

***I did add a little extra to this, for this felt WAY TOO RUSHED. However, the editing to this chapter is minor.***


	20. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Luigi was taking his usual morning stroll outside the castle. The sky was as blue as ever, the birds were singing their cheery tunes, and the clouds looked as soft as a fuzzy blanket.

He walked over to the small lake at the castle grounds, and seemed to be looking at his reflection in it.

"It reminds me of a mirror…" he said to himself. HE then paused for a bit, and then said, "and Mario…"

He then walked back towards the bridge of Peach's Castle, taking as much time as possible. He seemed to be in deep thought.

"Hey, Luigi!" called out an excited voice.

"Hello, Toad!" Luigi said with a forced smile.

"Do you wanna come and play with us? Don't worry; it's not video games this time. Instead, we're gonna use our imaginations! It's going to be fuuuun! So, what do ya think?" Toad asked in his usual rushed and energetic tone.

"Sure!" Luigi replied.

"Yay!" Toad hollered as he rushed into the door. "I call being meeee!" he shouted to the others as he disappeared inside.

"I call being Enemy!" another Toad replied.

"I wanna be Mario!" another shouted.

"No, _I _want to be him!" another screamed in joy.

"No, me!"

"No, ME!"

Luigi stood there and laughed with a slightly weary look on his face. It seemed that their new favorite thing to do now was reenact the whole Sky Warrior story. It was fun, but it always depressed Luigi in a way.

Before he went inside, he looked up at the stationary group of clouds in the distance.

"Hello, Mario…" he said. He then walked into the huge white castle of Peach.

"Hello, Luigi…" I replied in the vast land of clouds and rainbows.

_To be continued…_

* * *

_Yes! To be continued! This may be the end of this story, but it's not the end of the entire story! The sequel to this story – Super Mario: Return of a Long Lost Hero, is now on the site!_

***I also edited this chapter just a TINY bit as well…***


End file.
